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NOTE: SEFAUTIL Server is being released as BETA. Our main reason for this is to get feedback on PowerShell commandlet format before the community write scripts against the existing commandlets. To give feedback on SEFAUTIL Server please join the Community Yammer forum: Click Here

To see the new PowerShell commands that come with SEFAUTIL Server run:

I thought I would take a quick look at Cisco Spark and see how it compares to Skype for Business (just because that is the tool I live in). From my short time testing it this is what it appears to do well:

Instant Message

Video Calls

Screen Sharing (but not give control)

Upload files

Persistent Rooms that can be quickly Searched

Some things that seemed “missing” (from my Skype for Business perspective)

No presence (or way to see if another user is there)

No ability to initiate a Screen Share without first making a video call then muting the video call

No ability to initiate an audio call without first making a video call then muting video portion

No ability to give control to another user of a screen share session

No ability to mute others in a call

No ability to add PSTN/phone users to a collab session (room) (update: this is apparently slated as a future feature)

Some cool things

The ability to delete a message (IM)

If you add a user to a room that is not currently a Cisco Spark user they will get an email to sign up as a Cisco Spark user (but no Guest meeting join experience that I could see)

Now to explain the experience a bit. Instead of starting with a contact list, Cisco Spark is designed around the “Rooms” paradigm. These are (in Skype for Business parlance) akin to a persistent chat.

Searches can quickly be done and the results will returned categorized in People, Rooms, & Messages.

The 3 ways you can directly collaborate (without an intermediate step) is Message (1), Attachment (2) and Video Call (3). There doesn’t seem to be a way to start an audio call or screen share without first starting a video. (I could see some users complaining about this.)

After a user has a video going, then more collaboration methods become available: Desktop sharing and audio call. Desktop sharing (1) is just a single click. There is no ability to give control to the remote party. The CiscoSpark app for Android shows the Screen Share but there didn't seem to be pinch zoom and naturally a full screen is quite small)

Having just an audio call (2) seems quite counterintuitive: you establish a video call then mute the video. (There is very much a push to use video!)

It should be noted that video calls, audio calls and screen sharing sessions are not saved for future reviewing. Considering the paradigm is around persistent I could easily see how a user might think these collaborative interactions would be saved. (from a technical standpoint I can understand why media recordings are not done)

As noted above, messages can even be deleted.

Taking a look at settings, you’ll notice a very simple and straightforward screen.

A couple things I noticed on my first tryout, I don’t know if they are just my experience but I’ll list the items:

Using the web browser version of Cisco Spark Instant Messages failed to send between accounts when I initially tested (I’ve been notified this was due to large initial influx of users: click here)

On my Surface Pro the Windows app seemed to crashed quite frequently (i think it is a bug around finding a room you exited perhaps?)

The Android CiscoSpark app also crashed a time or two while I was testing.

The web version requires FireFox for media

It is interesting that the @CiscoSpark Twitter account is protected (not public)

Summary

Cisco Spark feels like a cross between Skype for Business and Office 365 Groups/Yammer (sans the calendar) which gives a persistent collaborative experience. It doesn’t seem quite as targeted and adept at quick in and out conversations and that quick audio call. It gives quite a bit of collaborative functionality for free, but it doesn’t seem like it would be a great option for inviting anonymous guests for a quick meeting join experience. The users are going to get the feeling they are being ramrod forced into video calls, but on the flip side Cisco is likely going to focus on making video a good experience when bandwidth is available. (in my tests the videos kept failing, and I wrote it up to the lack of mobile data bandwidth where I was at, but this graphically illustrates that its just not available everywhere) My experience felt like a version 1 experience, a few bugs, a few load hiccups, but then again, I checked the About screen and it is a Version 1.x product.

Create Trusted App and Trusted App Endpoint

Open Powershell on the Skype for Business (Lync) Server trusted application server you have previously setup.

You are going to need an unused port number. If you don’t know an unused port number, run “get-csTrustedApplication | ft Identity, port” get to see applications and their associated port numbers that are already in use.

Step for Those Using Lync Server 2013

SEFAUTIL Server has been compiled using the latest UCMA SDK which means that we will need to do a small tweak to force UCMA 4 to be use. In the SEFAUTIL Server code folder look for sefautilserver.exe.config and open the file using Notepad. Insert the below code immediately after the close </startup> tag:

You are in a Skype for Business meeting and you would like to get a list of all the participants and their Skype for Business ID/Email. How do you do it? You are correct there is no “Select All” and Copy. You could “Open Participant List” (shown below) and try to screenshot the participant list, but this is problematic in large meetings and because it does not give you an actionable list.

What is a much more elegant way to do this? Microsoft OneNote! Skype for Business meetings have a “My Notes” feature under “Present” which will nicely export all the participants of the current meeting. Just click Present | My Notes |

Now you will be prompted to select which OneNote Notebook you wish to send the meeting to.

The OneNote Meeting Note will now be created. (below)

Someone attending a Skype for Business meeting as an “Attendee” can create “My Notes” with participant list. (does not need to be a “Presenter”). If the meeting has IM/Participant List restricted they will not be able to get the participant list.

The Participant List in the newly created OneNote is interactive in several ways:

You can Collapse/Expand the participant list. (especially helpful for large meetings)

Single click on a participant name/hyperlink to send an email to them.

Hover over a participant name/hyperlink to open the Skype for Business/Outlook Contact Card. (Shown below, same functionality as Outlook)

You can email this list to all participants by clicking “Email Page” in OneNote.

How to collect a list of all the email addresses/Skype4B ID’s that participated in a meeting?

Click Email Page” and then copy and paste the email address list from the “To:” of the unsent email.

How to see the presence of Participants of a Meeting at a glance? (Post Meeting)

Click Email Page” and then take a look at the “To:” of the unsent Outlook message.

Very Cool: If new people join the Skype for Business meeting after you have created the OneNote page they will be added to the participants in OneNote. (see below: contacts that have joined the meeting after it was initially created. It seems to update live.)

Limitations

No way to see the presence of each participant embedded in the OneNote page. (you will need to hover)

Notes

The “In Attendance” Tag/Icon can be checked/unchecked but doesn’t seem to have importance other than visual

If a participant joins the meeting and then leaves again, they will be added and stay in the Participants in OneNote

Participant List can be sent to OneNote even if it is a large meeting and users see the “The full participant list isn’t available for large meetings.” (below)

While Skype for Business “My Notes” might not be specifically designed to “export participants” it doesn’t do a bad job of it.

I’ve often covered Enterprise Connect remotely, but this year I’m planning to attendant in person. This blog will be updated and be my “scratch pad” of notes about new things I see related to Skype for Business & Office 365. Of course we’ll be glad to meet & talk about Attendant Pro or Call Recording Pro, or just about Skype for Business. (If you’re a vendor with a cool new product related to Skype4B your welcome to ping me on Twitter @matthewlandis)

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About Me

Matthew M. Landis has various industry certifications: Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, Microsoft Certified Database Administrator, Microsoft Office Certified Expert, Microsoft Certified Dynamics, Network+ and A+.
In 1995 Matt started Landis Computer which has been providing IT services to small businesses for 14 years and is now a 11 person Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. Matt has over 14 years of field experience implementing Windows Server, Microsoft & Dynamics ERP solutions in small business environments.
Matt is very active in the Windows based IP PBX community: He was a 3CX Valued Professional from 2008-2010 and has co-authored a book on Windows communication software "3CX IP PBX Tutorial". He is pbxnsip Certified, he has contributed thousands of posts to the 3CX community forum and he writes the monthly Windows PBX Report e-newsletter for VARS and administrators. His company, Landis Computer, was the first company in the USA to be designated a 3CX Premium Partner.
When not working and when a chance affords Matt likes to travel internationally with his wife Rosalyn and is very involved in his church.